Written in verse and apportioned like a diary, Thanhha Lai's Newberry Honor and National Book Award-winning Inside Out & Back Again is a wonder-- a rare middle-reader occasioning close and gentle reading.

Inside Out's ten year old hero and narrator Hà is both tough and tender. She faces a mind-boggling migration from communist-occupied Saigon to an All-American Alabaman outpost with the humor and heart we are all working toward.

A beautiful introduction to the Vietnam War, Vietnamese culture more broadly, and to the trials of entering a new life and language as a refugee in the United States. This is a particularly good one for parents and young readers to enjoy and unpack in tandem. So happy to welcome a new lyric-loving voice to the genre! I'm a full-fledged Lai fan already!

ROUTINE (From Part II At Sea)

Mother cannot allowidle children,hers or anyone else's.

After one weekon the shipBrother Quang beginsEnglish lessons.

I wish he wouldkeep it to:How are you?This is a pen.But when an adult is not therehe says,We must consider the shame of abandoning our own countryand begging toward the unknownwhere we will all begin againat the lowest levelon the social scale.

It's better in the afternoonswith Brother Vũwho just wants us to do front kicksand back kicks,at times addingone-two punches.